What if it’s us: the showstopping contemporary romance!

If you’re looking for a sweet contemporary romance, what’s better than a book by Becky Albertalli or a book by Adam Silvera? Well, *put your hands together* because here’s a book by both Albertalli and Silvera!

What I love about both authors is their ability to make me feel all the *feels*- and this book achieved that by the bucketload. From the promised meet cute, I got the impression that this story was going to be super, well, cute. Nay- ADORABLE! There was so many aww moments in this story I couldn’t keep count. All the way through, it made my insides squeeze cos of how sweet it was.

I also loved how quirky and funny it was. The quippy sense of humour and wit had me laughing out loud. And I appreciated the conversational writing style and particularity of the descriptions. It was so fun to get inside each of the main character’s heads.

Of course, this was super character led. Ben and Arthur were so well written that I felt like I was addressing them in my notes as if they were real people. Ben was a little bruised in the romance department, imaginative and somewhat oversensitive. Art- well, he was a little melodramatic, but as one of life’s melodramatic people, I related to him way too much. Actually, I also liked his slightly hyper personality, his spunk, his romantic nature and even got his immaturity. I swear that if Art were real, we’d be best friends 😉

What I liked about the story was how it dealt with romance after the two guys had come out. This wasn’t just another coming out and falling in love story- this was so much more than that. In fact, as previously mentioned, Ben had already been stung before. But that didn’t stop *the universe* bringing the characters together- and tearing them apart. What I liked was that both boys were looking for each other (which drew the line between it feeling stalkery on one side). And the detective work was fun (of course by the end of it I was squealing with glee- see what I meant about being overdramatic 😉 ) Ultimately, though, there were times when the relationship felt a little too tumultuous. And that brings us into the spoilery section…

While the falling in love part was done so well, I did feel like it felt too rocky, which made it hard for me to root for them throughout. As much as I loved the characters, it felt like they were both throwing unnecessary spanners in the works for the sake of drama. That said, what was great was that it didn’t give the typical ending. I spent a huge amount of time worrying that if they simply ended up together it wouldn’t feel totally right and if they didn’t the book would feel like a wasted opportunity… Somehow Albertalli and Silvera struck the perfect balance. The open ending was a stroke of brilliance, since it fitted with the theme of second chances and new beginnings. I liked that they got to throw destiny out of the equation and make their own story.

Okay, spoilers over. What was most surprising about the book was when Art’s friends got together, cos it felt a little out of place. And on the other end of the spectrum, I will admit that Dylan and his future wife did steal the show at some points. There were other “love interests”, like NY, Hamilton, Harry Potter and countless other pop culture references, which I was all over and really added a cool dimension to the story.

Overall, I was completely absorbed with this fun and romantic story- which is why I gave it:

Rating: 4/5 bananas

Now I am actually a little late with this review, cos I thought it might be fun to share the fact that I went to a book talk at the Southbank Centre for this and got a signed copy!!

It was so fun to hear how collaborative the project was- and I especially loved hearing how Becky Albertalli wrote Arthur and Adam Silvera wrote Ben (I guessed correctly!) I really liked hearing how much of them was in each character, particularly cos I’d spent a lot of the book speculating about that!

Also exciting news, this has been optioned to be a movie!! Let’s hope Lin-Manuel Miranda gets to do the soundtrack (one can live and dream, right 😉 )

Okay, I’m going to shut up now. Have you read this book? Or anything else by these authors? Do you plan to? Let me know in the comments!

Thankyou for not “bolding” every other sentence. Made it so much easier to concentrate while reading the review.

As for signed books, I think my preference for that is really changing. I used to be crazy mad to get books signed. Have some by Jordan and then Sanderson on my Wheel of Time books and some by Larry Correia. But now, since I’m moving so much into the digital realm, hardbacks don’t have quite the same appeal.
Oh, who am I kidding. If Sanderson comes to my town again, I’m there!

I have seen this one appear on a few other blogs as well. It sounds like a nice read, but I’ll admit it isn’t my usual cup of tea. Then again I never say never to anything, so maybe I’ll read it eventually anyway, just to satisfy my curiosity. Great post as always, and so cool that you have a signed copy! 😊😊

I am so jealous you got to go to a book talk. Unfortunately their UK tour didn’t venture up to Scotland as I loved this book.

I guessed which authors wrote which character too. Arthur felt a little Simon ish to me and I could definitely hear Silvera in Ben. I absolutely loved Arthur and would want him as my BFF but yeah Dylan totally stole the show.

Awww! So I’m never going to read this book but your review made it sound really cute and sweet. I’m just not a fan of angsty melodrama. Also, it sounded like the characters had backpacks and you know my rules. How cool that you got a signed copy! ☺

What a cute review!! I preordered this book and I’m really excited to get around to it. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Adam’s writing but I do absolutely adore Becky! I feel awful but I do have to point out that you kept calling Adam David haha

What a terrific review, and I love that you found out who wrote what at the signing because I always ponder that. I definitely need to read this book and apparently more books by these two lovely authors. Adding right now!

Great review for this book, and wow you got a signed copy as well? That’s amazing. 🙂
I got an ARC of What If It’s Us and really enjoyed it, I felt Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera wrote both Ben and Arthur really well (I read about which author had written which character before I started the book but you could really hear their distinct voices in the way Ben and Arthur’s individual chapters had been written right?)
Great review, and I’m glad you enjoyed this book as well. 🙂 ❤

I love this book so much! It’s just the most adorable thing ever. I LOVE the characters.
I was really sad when I finished the book. I have to reread it soon (despite the fact that I finished like a week ago).
I just keep internally squealing with joy and adorableness.

This sounds so good, I love that tthere’s laugh out loud moments- I find good humour always gives so much more to a book! I do fear though, that for me the references would go over my head, especially the HP ones as I know nothing, haha…